What was the real intent of George W Bush in the decision to invade Iraq in 2003?

[LBJer]

Because Saddam "tried to kill my father, man", and Bush "don't play that s---."

Yeah, I said in another post that while it's unclear to me whether it was conscious or not, Bush's core reason for starting the war was to avenge his father.  WMDs and Saddam's bad behavior were just excuses and/or rationalizations. 

[LBJer]

Because Saddam "tried to kill my father, man", and Bush "don't play that s---."

Yeah, I said in another post that while it's unclear to me whether it was conscious or not, Bush's core reason for starting the war was to avenge his father.  WMDs and Saddam's bad behavior were just excuses and/or rationalizations.  

I was just quoting, in jest, a line from Chapelle's Black Bush skit haha. Imo avenging his father isn't a great reason since obviously there were neo-cons like Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc. that were stronger voices for the Iraq War than W. Bush himself. The buck stops with Bush of course, but I think the Bush admin had generally odious strategical pursuits for Iraq rather than a personal vendetta.

But I'm not convinced Bush would have listened to the neocons on this if Saddam hadn't tried to assassinate his father.  We'll never know for sure. I don't think Bush Sr. himself thought the war was a good idea.  I think that at the very least, the assassination attempt influenced W's willingness to accept what others were telling/advising him.  

[LBJer]

If any of you actually read a biography on him, you would know option one is the right answer.

But even if Saddam DID have WMDs, it didn't automatically follow that he was a threat to the U.S.  As someone said, the U.S. saying it was afraid of Saddam was like if Mike Tyson had said he was scared of Steve Urkel.